Along EU Borders

FAQ

Contact

Vulnerability Assessment

One of the core elements of the new Regulation
is that the Agency is now also tasked to carry out vulnerability assessments on
Member States’ capacity to manage their borders. Vul­nerability assessments
help to contrib­ute to an efficient, high and uniform level of border control
at the external borders of the EU. They enable to identify and subsequently
propose measures to eliminate any eventual weaknesses and thus serve also the purpose of preventing crisis at the EU external borders.

According to the Regulation, the Agency should
monitor and assess the availability of the Member States’ tech­nical equipment,
systems, capabilities, resources, infrastructure and adequately skilled and
trained staff necessary for border control. The scope of the vulner­ability
assessment is broad and al­lows for potential vulnerabilities to be identified
in a wide range of areas re­lated to border management capacities.

The methodology, which Frontex has established
in close consultation with Member States and the Commission, is based on four
overarching principles. Firstly, it provides for the engagement of Member
States to ensure ownership of the results and consistent application. Secondly,
vulnerabilities are assessed by – on a continuous basis - taking into account,
apart from the available technical and human resources capacity, the type and
level of threats to which Member States are exposed and their impact. As the
meth­odology is founded on (regularly changing) EU risks, this principle also allows
for a clear distinction from the Schengen Evaluation Mecha­nism. Thirdly, it
adopts a future-oriented approach so that the implementation of recommendations
can prevent the devel­opment of crises. Finally, it does not seek to establish
a mere checklist of availa­ble capacities but focuses on the analy­sis of data
collected from a wide range of sources, so that the actual mobilisa­tion of
these capacities can be assessed.

The vulnerability assessment method­ology is
structured around one single overall process resulting in annual base­line
assessments. These assessments are complemented with specific assessments
stimulated by the identification of up­coming challenges, the monitoring of the
situation along the external borders and the assessment of Member States’
contributions to the rapid reaction pool.